You might actually want to *try* these things out with the software… After all, the truth is out there – in the form of how the software actually behaves. It might be easier to understand by actually doing and observering.

You’re almost there with “Part 1”. The tech behind password change has some more nuances, but essentially you’re correct. Once a file is encrypted with V2 it’ll be openeable with any password that you change to, with some caveats about offline mode of operation and moving to new PCs. (It’ll also be openable with the password that was in effect when it was last encrypted).

You’e still not there with “Part 2”. I don’t really know how I can say this any more clearly?

– V1 “Keep Time Stamp” only has effect when encrypting a file for the first time. Only. Not otherwise.
– V2 and V1 has the exact same behavior when opening already encrypted files, except…
– …for the special case where V2 opens a V1 file, and causes an automatic re-encryption to V2 thus updating the encrypted file time stamp.

I’m afraid this is where I’ll have to leave the time stamp discussion.

I maintain that the V1 “Keep Time Stamp” registry setting was a mistake from the start. My bad. It was originally default, then I took it away because I realized it was a mistake, but kept it as a “hidden” registry setting for backwards compatibility. That was perhaps also a mistake. I should have treated it as the bug it is and just fixed once and for all. But I have now in V2. Sorry for this.